Next Reading Manager

[Snowflake Royal]

And your evidence of this is?

The corruption rampant in China where you don't get to be a billionaire honestly by buying fallout shelters on the cheap and converting them to shopping malls that aren’t needed.

It doesn't really answer my original point about being incompetent though, even if that was true anyway, which there still isn't evidence of, you've just given me a generic statement and have now assumed that applies to Dai Yongge.

Everything he's done at Reading.

[TiagoIlori]

It’s a tricky one for me. So many managers that do secure survival seem to be the first ones to go the next season. Ince is not an experienced manager and we have a hell of a rebuilding job to do this summer- Joao coming back has been a just as big factor in our revival and I don’t think we should under estimate his influence.

But you look counter productively, he’s earned that position more than most managers have. He’s improved us (still think we are shaky defensively but I also think that will take some time to resolve) and the players certainly seem to like him. His CV is hardly much worse than the other has we viewed at the time “shitters” we’ve brought in over the last six years- Stam, Clement, Gomes, Bowen, Pauno. I have absolutely no faith that the alternative manager would not be someone inspiring.

I think it’s a flip of the coin and is a tough call to make, but one thing is for certain and that is if Paul Ince is not chosen he won’t be out of a job for long.

Sorry, Ince is not an experienced manager ?
Is that for real ?
He’s got considerably more managerial experience, particularly in England, than at least 4 of our last 6, albeit from a few years ago

Not exactly a high bar to set given we tend to appoint randomers. Many current championship managers have spent over a decade working within coaching staff, managing academy teams while Paul Ince stepped into the managerial part almost immediately and was out of the coaching side of the game totally for eight years (which is a huge gap that cannot be under estimated). His championship experience is only one year long too.

No one looked at his appointment at the time and decided he was an experienced manager (at this level) that was going to keep us up. In fact quite the opposite. They were wrong with the latter, but without the hindsight of knowing he has something about him, his cv did not suggest he was the answer.

[ILoveMoonPig]

I'd be happy with Ince taking the job, he's clearly earned it. But I wouldn't be surprised if Ince declined the job on a full time basis.

The challenge for someone coming in when he did was "here's a group of very talented and experienced players who know eachother well and are under-performing, make them start performing again to keep us up".

Next season's challenge will be very different "you have no money to spend and you're losing most of your established players. You can sign a few out-of-contact players and use the academy, but we need to stay up".

A very different challenge, it'll be interesting to see if he fancies it. He's definitely earned the chance if he does want it though.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

The corruption rampant in China where you don't get to be a billionaire honestly by buying fallout shelters on the cheap and converting them to shopping malls that aren’t needed.

It doesn't really answer my original point about being incompetent though, even if that was true anyway, which there still isn't evidence of, you've just given me a generic statement and have now assumed that applies to Dai Yongge.

You've been told that he is and has been for some time under investigation by the Chinese government. I am sure you're a nice guy IRL but you are getting to the point of tiresome on here, you can't accept anyone correcting you and it is really boring now.

Not really, I asked for evidence of his corrupt business in China, I didn't get it from either of you. You've both just said he either "is/was" under investigation or that he is corrupt because some business in China is.

I'm not really too interested what you think of me on here, but don't make a claim and then not support it, and then say it's someone else's fault.

[Stranded]

I'd be happy with Ince taking the job, he's clearly earned it. But I wouldn't be surprised if Ince declined the job on a full time basis.

The challenge for someone coming in when he did was "here's a group of very talented and experienced players who know eachother well and are under-performing, make them start performing again to keep us up".

Next season's challenge will be very different "you have no money to spend and you're losing most of your established players. You can sign a few out-of-contact players and use the academy, but we need to stay up".

A very different challenge, it'll be interesting to see if he fancies it. He's definitely earned the chance if he does want it though.

I may be wrong but I honestly get the feeling that the number of players re-signing will be bigger that people expect, esp. if Ince signs a deal. We may even get some money through the door that allows a little more wheeling and dealing that we also think.

Massive job ahead, I would be happy with Ince and I wouldn't really want us wasting time finding someone else if we can help it especially as the season starts in July.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

The corruption rampant in China where you don't get to be a billionaire honestly by buying fallout shelters on the cheap and converting them to shopping malls that aren’t needed.

It doesn't really answer my original point about being incompetent though, even if that was true anyway, which there still isn't evidence of, you've just given me a generic statement and have now assumed that applies to Dai Yongge.

Everything he's done at Reading.

That's at a football club, he's obviously taking advice from the wrong areas, but who knows what he is getting from that side of it. As I say, whatever business he gets up to (legal or not), as a businessperson, I find it very hard to believe that a billionaire businessperson is incompetent with finances and business.

[Snowflake Royal]

It doesn't really answer my original point about being incompetent though, even if that was true anyway, which there still isn't evidence of, you've just given me a generic statement and have now assumed that applies to Dai Yongge.

Everything he's done at Reading.

That's at a football club, he's obviously taking advice from the wrong areas, but who knows what he is getting from that side of it. As I say, whatever business he gets up to (legal or not), as a businessperson, I find it very hard to believe that a billionaire businessperson is incompetent with finances and business.

Ok, so apart from corruption being rife in China and, as we see in Russia, billionaires get to be billionaires in dictatorships through corruption, and all the ways he's run the club incompetently already, he's actually got great business acumen purely because he's rich and so will now make good decisions because the problem was clearly the advice he was getting was poor, and that will now change despite there being no change in the people advising him.


What does the sand your head is buried in taste of?

[Royal Rother]

Christ.

[Snowball]

I'd be happy with Ince taking the job, he's clearly earned it. But I wouldn't be surprised if Ince declined the job on a full time basis.

The challenge for someone coming in when he did was "here's a group of very talented and experienced players who know eachother well and are under-performing, make them start performing again to keep us up".

Next season's challenge will be very different "you have no money to spend and you're losing most of your established players. You can sign a few out-of-contact players and use the academy, but we need to stay up".

A very different challenge, it'll be interesting to see if he fancies it. He's definitely earned the chance if he does want it though.

I may be wrong but I honestly get the feeling that the number of players re-signing will be bigger that people expect, esp. if Ince signs a deal. We may even get some money through the door that allows a little more wheeling and dealing that we also think.

Massive job ahead, I would be happy with Ince and I wouldn't really want us wasting time finding someone else if we can help it especially as the season starts in July.

I worry it might go the other way.

What happens if we are offered 5 Million or more for JOAO, he goes and then the rest think, Sheeeeit...?

[Stranded]

I'd be happy with Ince taking the job, he's clearly earned it. But I wouldn't be surprised if Ince declined the job on a full time basis.

The challenge for someone coming in when he did was "here's a group of very talented and experienced players who know eachother well and are under-performing, make them start performing again to keep us up".

Next season's challenge will be very different "you have no money to spend and you're losing most of your established players. You can sign a few out-of-contact players and use the academy, but we need to stay up".

A very different challenge, it'll be interesting to see if he fancies it. He's definitely earned the chance if he does want it though.

I may be wrong but I honestly get the feeling that the number of players re-signing will be bigger that people expect, esp. if Ince signs a deal. We may even get some money through the door that allows a little more wheeling and dealing that we also think.

Massive job ahead, I would be happy with Ince and I wouldn't really want us wasting time finding someone else if we can help it especially as the season starts in July.

I worry it might go the other way.

What happens if we are offered 5 Million or more for JOAO, he goes and then the rest think, Sheeeeit...?

Depends on when we sell and who has signed, then how we are allowed to reinvest.

[Smudge]

Like others, I'm not really convinced Ince is the right man for the job despite the fact that we appear to be safe from relegation.
I cannot deny that the team has more fight than we have seen for a very long time, but I think our lack of tactical awareness is a weak point and people seem to be overlooking this.

Let's be real, Swansea aren't exactly a high achiever this season. Granted, they've done better than us but so has pretty much every championship side. At times we really struggled on Monday, especially on the left; Baba, T-Mac & Hoilett were at times all over the place trying to deal with Swansea's formation and we didn't seem to adjust until they made substitutions at 4-2. Defensively we are still wobbly, but our fight and ability to bounce back and play for 90+ minutes has saved us.

As much as I would love to see members of the squad re-sign with us, my understanding is that we now have a salary cap of £8k for any new contract and we still can't sign anyone unless they're on a Free Transfer, a loan deal or an unattached player. That leaves us woefully weak. Add in the fact that many of the players can easily leave, earn more than £8k a week and get a decent signing bonus..... what is the incentive for them to sign again (other than the romantic notion that footballers are loyal and devoted to a club?).

I feel that the fight Ince has instilled and the fact that the better players have come back into the squad following long term injury in time has saved us. Next season is going to be a different proposition and I can't see how Ince would deal with that. I've not read every post on here so I'm not sure who else is being suggested, but I think for us to make (at best) a safe mid-table position next season we would need someone like Rooney to come in as manager. He's proven that with little to no resource he can get a team of misfits performing under unprecedented and complicated circumstances, certainly ones worse than Reading have had to endure.

Like others, I do believe Ince already has the job. He has mentioned in interviews that he had an involvement in Tom joining us before he came in as manager, so I assume there's a tie in somewhere with Joorabchian. But how Ince will cope with a squad that is going to be significantly different next season?

[Hound]

Surely ince has done just as well as Rooney?

He also inherited what looked like a bunch of misfits, a club at a really low ebb and got them performing and fighting

Certainly didn’t see anything from Derby when they came here to suggest there was any tactical ingenuity going on from Rooney’s side

They’ve still for plenty of experienced and talented players at Derby - Bielik, Lawrence, Byrne, Davies, Forsyth, Morrison, Kazim + young players who have reasonable experience similar to Holmes - ie Knight, Bird, Buchanan, Sibley

They aren’t a bad side tbh

[Smudge]

Surely ince has done just as well as Rooney?

It's hard to compare isn't it. Ince has only had a handful of games vs Rooney having had all season. Interestingly, we would be equal on points without the deduction now. I guess there is a massive element of support that Derby have had from fans that Reading haven't had this season which will have been an extra for them. But the sanctions they have had to endure whilst also trying to run the club that has no cash and limited in almost all they do due to administration vs what we have had is going to have been different I am sure.

I fear the fact that we now look safe from relegation is covering over the massive background cracks we have bemoaned all season. Go back to where we were 6 months ago.... other than a new manager and safety, nothing much at the club has actually changed has it? Remove a large chunk of the squad we have because they're out of contract or will be sold (because they need the revenues) and where does that leave us?

[Stranded]

I get why people are still not convinced by Ince - I would like to see him get a proper shot but this is mainly from a better the devil you know situation but I have been fairly impressed by the fight he has brought to the side.

My question for those who are very anti-Ince is simply who?

The criteria we are likely to be working to are:

a) out of work or available for a very, very small compensation package
b) cheap
c) realistic - i.e. we aren't going to get Sean Dyche for a number of reasons.

I'm really struggling to think of options that are better than the bloke currently in the job, who has improved us a lot in a few weeks, galvanised the team and seems to have fixed a lot of the mentality issues - yes, lots of work to do still but absolutely going in the right direction.

[Stranded]

Surely ince has done just as well as Rooney?

It's hard to compare isn't it. Ince has only had a handful of games vs Rooney having had all season. Interestingly, we would be equal on points without the deduction now. I guess there is a massive element of support that Derby have had from fans that Reading haven't had this season which will have been an extra for them. But the sanctions they have had to endure whilst also trying to run the club that has no cash and limited in almost all they do due to administration vs what we have had is going to have been different I am sure.

I fear the fact that we now look safe from relegation is covering over the massive background cracks we have bemoaned all season. Go back to where we were 6 months ago.... other than a new manager and safety, nothing much at the club has actually changed has it? Remove a large chunk of the squad we have because they're out of contract or will be sold (because they need the revenues) and where does that leave us?

Nothing major was going to change - however, one key change is that Ince is not a Kia man - if he stays, he is very unlikely to accept players coming from 1 agent. So if nothing else, Ince staying longer term could be the start of weaning us off him.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I get why people are still not convinced by Ince - I would like to see him get a proper shot but this is mainly from a better the devil you know situation but I have been fairly impressed by the fight he has brought to the side.

My question for those who are very anti-Ince is simply who?

The criteria we are likely to be working to are:

a) out of work or available for a very, very small compensation package
b) cheap
c) realistic - i.e. we aren't going to get Sean Dyche for a number of reasons.

I'm really struggling to think of options that are better than the bloke currently in the job, who has improved us a lot in a few weeks, galvanised the team and seems to have fixed a lot of the mentality issues - yes, lots of work to do still but absolutely going in the right direction.

I suppose option B depends really doesn't it. For example, I wouldn't mind Liam Manning from MK Dons with the work he has done providing they don't go up as I think he "could" fit the criteria for all 3 of those categories, but obviously it depends on his compensation package as well.

There are also a good number of managers with Championship experience out of work at the moment as well that we could go for, examples like Johnson and Monk. Yes, not stellar names or anything but decent enough.

To be fair, at this point I'd rather go with Ince than a Monk/Johnson, but I would also understand the club's decision if they were to replace Ince with either 2 above as I think they'd do pretty well with us personally speaking anyway.

To clarify, I'm not anti-Ince or anything because I think he has done a good job thus far with us and there has obviously been ample improvement in most areas since Pauno has left, I'm just not convinced that an interim turned permanent manager has a great success rate in general and I'd want the club to use this opportunity to employ someone who we believe can build something for 2/3 years, similar to what Rowett is doing at Millwall for example, or Nathan Jones at Luton etc.

[Snowflake Royal]

Can you name the last interim manager Reading had that became permanent and failed?

Because I can think of just two and both succeeded spectacularly. Albeit, both internal appointments.

Can you provide anything quantifiable for interim managers failing more often than not other than your 'gut feeling'?

[NathStPaul]

Please tell me Yorkshire Royal isn't advocating bringing in Lee Johnson?

[Stranded]

I get why people are still not convinced by Ince - I would like to see him get a proper shot but this is mainly from a better the devil you know situation but I have been fairly impressed by the fight he has brought to the side.

My question for those who are very anti-Ince is simply who?

The criteria we are likely to be working to are:

a) out of work or available for a very, very small compensation package
b) cheap
c) realistic - i.e. we aren't going to get Sean Dyche for a number of reasons.

I'm really struggling to think of options that are better than the bloke currently in the job, who has improved us a lot in a few weeks, galvanised the team and seems to have fixed a lot of the mentality issues - yes, lots of work to do still but absolutely going in the right direction.

I suppose option B depends really doesn't it. For example, I wouldn't mind Liam Manning from MK Dons with the work he has done providing they don't go up as I think he "could" fit the criteria for all 3 of those categories, but obviously it depends on his compensation package as well.

There are also a good number of managers with Championship experience out of work at the moment as well that we could go for, examples like Johnson and Monk. Yes, not stellar names or anything but decent enough.

To be fair, at this point I'd rather go with Ince than a Monk/Johnson, but I would also understand the club's decision if they were to replace Ince with either 2 above as I think they'd do pretty well with us personally speaking anyway.

To clarify, I'm not anti-Ince or anything because I think he has done a good job thus far with us and there has obviously been ample improvement in most areas since Pauno has left, I'm just not convinced that an interim turned permanent manager has a great success rate in general and I'd want the club to use this opportunity to employ someone who we believe can build something for 2/3 years, similar to what Rowett is doing at Millwall for example, or Nathan Jones at Luton etc.

Ok and why can't Ince be the person to build something for the next 2 or 3 years - he's only 54, so hardly ready for the retirement home yet.

The best chance we have of any success next year, in my mind, is to try and re-sign some key players who may be open to it - for example, Laurent, Rino, Holmes, poss Yiadom as examples bring in some decent, yet cheap, calibre frees and use contacts to get in decent loans - despite their issues United will still have some decent younger players Ince could well use his contacts to tap into - then supplement this with the best of our youth set up.

In all cases, I feel that Ince gives us the best chance to grasp that rather than potentially wasting weeks of a trying summer getting someone else in.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Ince can be that person, but as I say I'm just conscious that an interim turned permanent manager doesn't tend to have a great success rate really.

Agreed, I think tying down the aforementioned would be useful, hopefully we can re-sign Hoilett and Ince, providing we can get the latter's wages down and I wouldn't be against us looking to re-sign Drinkwater but I can imagine his wage demands may exceed what we can pay him.

I don't think we'd end up with a poor manager if we were to employ someone else personally speaking, it's just a case of can we sustain some success and become more stable for a few years now. Every manager we've had has some some success, without being able to sustain it.